


Cimmerian Impression

by Pokegirl3000



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Pathway, Angst, M/M, Poor Riku, Possession, Reunion, Riku fights for Sora, Riku is pursuing Darkness, Slow Burn, Torture, Training, canonverse, sora is a ray of sunshine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 20:34:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11882310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokegirl3000/pseuds/Pokegirl3000
Summary: After the Heartless attack on Destiny Islands, Riku had been taken to the castle of Hollow Bastion to learn the ways of the Darkness, guided by the witch Maleficent. Now he was growing stronger, having faked his interest in the dark path of life, to find the most important thing to him: his friends. But his life is disrupted by an ominous phenomenon which he cannot understand. From time to time he loses himself completely, overthrown by an alien intrusion taking hold of his own mind. What will happen to Riku as this possession grows?





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! I hope you enjoy the read. This story shows an Alternative Pathway of Riku's time apart from Sora in Kingdom Hearts: how he comes to terms with his feelings and what he must to do act on them.
> 
> This is a slow burn canonverse fic; the SoRiku will come in later chapters. It will be worth it; I promise ;D
> 
> More tags will be added as the fic develops! ^-^

# Chapter 1: Reunion

I knew that I had Darkness somewhere in my heart but, for a while now, things had not seemed right.

I lay in bed with a hand in my hair and my eyes closed to concentrate on my breathing. Foul dreams of Maleficent and the Heartless attack on Destiny Islands had haunted me to a horrible awakening. I found myself to be sweating and truly worried by the dream. I couldn’t bear the thought of my friends being hurt by the creatures. Or in time… by me.

Maleficent was not convincing me, even after all the time I’d been pretending to go along with what she had been doing. The Darkness was spreading over the worlds, and my friends were out there. Somewhere. Trying to find me, I hoped, just as I was trying desperately to find them. I let out a sigh and wondered whether Sora and Kairi were going around together… Did Sora defeat the Heartless and escape Destiny Islands with Kairi? Were they fighting the Heartless together and exploring the worlds without me? 

My fingers clenched into a fist in my hair and a frustrated huff of breath forced its way through my lips. Increasingly my mind was being agitated with the idea that my friends had replaced me. Bouts of anger had overcome me at random times during my travels and I was beginning to get quite frightened of myself. At times, I doubted my ability to control my body. It was as if some strange force was trying to possess me.

I hummed a low note; mulling over these negative thoughts would not help me get back to sleep so I got up slowly and headed over to the bathroom of the hotel room. I was staying in the Second District of Traverse Town for now, since I had caught wind of Sora frequently passing through. I stayed in the hope of seeing him again. I almost craved the sight of his beaming face. We had grown up together; we were best friends. I swore to protect him and Kairi. I didn’t want anything to happen to them. 

I was not so worried about Kairi, I realised. I was more anxious about Sora’s safety. We had trained together and he had become a fair match for me. However, fighting the Heartless in these worlds wasn’t like sparring with sticks on a beach. They were dangerous. If things went badly, or if Sora bit off more than he could chew, he could have been hurt. Or worse…

I slammed down a mental block and looked into my widened, sea-green eyes in the mirror. I could not think that. That was Maleficent’s plan. To make me doubt my friends. To make me turn against them or forget them. What she didn’t know was that my friends are the most important people in all the worlds for me. 

My silver hair fell over my shoulders as I hung my head over the sink. Soon, Sora would return to Traverse Town. Soon, I would be able to see him again. While drinking a glass of water, I kept the vision of him smiling and waving in my mind. Calling my name. My recollection of his voice was wavering, but just the thought summoned a smile to my face. With that, I returned to bed, and scrunched the covers into a ball in front of me to hold them gently. 

***

I woke up late the next morning with my limbs pressing the ball of covers tightly against me. Upon realising this, I sat up quickly but let a smile grow on my face. I hadn’t done that before; I assumed it was because I was thinking of Sora before I went to sleep. And Kairi, of course. Sora was much more prominent in my mind, though. What can you expect? My partner in crime, my brother in bond. Of course he would be the first to come to mind.

After getting dressed, I grabbed my equipment and left the building with hope making my heart beat faster than it should have done. I headed over to the café in First District for breakfast and a catch-up with the latest news. The Heartless were getting more powerful by the day. First District was very busy because the rest of Traverse Town was experiencing more and more attacks from the creatures. I let my face grow steely and cold to hide my worry and disappointment. They would not attack me since I bore Maleficent’s grant but I didn’t care so much about myself as I did for others. What if the Heartless became too strong? What if Sora couldn’t manage…?

My head shot up at the arrival of a weeping woman bursting into the square. She was holding her terrified daughter in her arms, shuddering and shouting. The kind citizens of Traverse Town were quickly surrounding her and calming her down, and I could just about make out what she was so worked up about.

“The creatures… They attacked us! In Third District! So many of them… A swarm of black shadows and armoured knights. Attacking everyone!”

A wave of fright and doubt pulsed through the crowd. Everybody feared the Heartless spreading to First District which seemed to be the only known refuge from the creatures. There was no guarantee that its safety would remain for much longer.

“They were concentrated around a boy!” the woman continued, stroking her daughter’s hair as she spoke. “A young boy with brown hair. He was fighting them all off with a strange key. He saved us!”

My blade was in my hand and I was on my feet and running before my mind could catch up with my reactions. Sora! He was here! My feet pounded on the paved ground. Adrenaline pushed me faster and faster. I flung open the door to the Second District and ploughed through. Heartless were appearing all around and terrorising those who they could see. They didn’t matter to me so I raced on. My heart felt as if it were being reeled in by a fishing line towards Third District, and I was the being dragged through the tough current of those fleeing in the opposite direction. 

I burst into the District and sprinted straight into the square. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him. He was crouched low to the ground, panting, sweat droplets flying from him as his head whipped round to inspect the shadowy creatures. His wild hair stuck up at odd angles and his bright blue eyes were narrowed in aggression. A white duck and a dog were fighting the Heartless alongside him. Before I could step forward, Sora had leapt into the air with his Keyblade raised aloft and vanquished a group of Heartless with admirable strength and skill. His shout echoed off the high walls.

My heart drummed against my chest and my windpipe constricted to a narrow tube, making it very difficult to breathe. The sight of him fighting so tirelessly and valiantly struck me with awe. Heck, seeing him in general made me weak with joy! His Keyblade pierced the last Soldier through the chest, and it vanished to Oblivion, allowing a clear line of sight between myself and him.

His eyes widened and he straightened to his full height. The two animals also turned to face me, asking who I was as they neared my friend. But I was focused on him. His chest and shoulders were moving as he took heavy breaths; his Keychain swung with each of them. My voice caught in my throat for a moment but I managed to force myself to speak a single word.

“Sora.”

The sides of his mouth rose upwards and that prized smile lit up his face. So much bolder than my imagination, and so much more heart warming. And so real! He began to chuckle, then laugh, and he dropped his Keyblade with a clatter to the floor and ran towards me. I did the same; my feet carried me forward with minimal effort. The gravity I felt towards my friend was stronger than my conscious movement.

We came together in an embrace so tight it was like we had been put in a vacuum together. My arms wrapped around his back and shoulder as I pulled him into me and nestled my face in his hair. My heart was beating so loudly I thought that he would have been able to hear it. I laughed with him and felt his arms around my waist, letting me know that he was really here. My laughs were breathless in joy. I hugged him tighter still, and he didn’t make a move in complaint. 

“Riku!” he said, as his head lay against my chest. Ah, the sound of my name in his voice made me tingle all over! “Riku, I can’t believe you found me! I’ve been looking all over for you and here you are!” 

A laugh passed through me which was almost a sob. He had been looking for me the whole time! He hadn’t forgotten about me. He hadn’t been spending all his time with Kairi. He still cared about me! I knew I should let go of him but I didn’t want to. I wanted to keep his warm body pressed against me at all times so nothing bad could happen to him.

A raspy voice sounded from behind my friend. “Sora? Who is this?” 

At once, Sora pulled out of my arms. My heart sank for a split second but flew again when Sora linked arms with me. 

“Donald and Goofy, this is my best friend, Riku!” Sora announced with a grin on his face. “He’s one of the people we’ve been looking for!”

While Goofy and Donald had a little celebration, I looked down at my friend. “You haven’t found Kairi yet?” I asked. My arm tightened around his as he shook his head. But when he looked back at me, he was smiling again. 

“At least I have you now!” was his reply.

I couldn’t stop myself from bringing him into another short embrace. Finally having him with me felt like a dream and a miracle. We may have only been separated for a month or two, but to me it seemed like years had passed me by without him by my side. He was practically a sibling to me. To have such a close bond like that severed by sudden separation was extremely demoralising to say the least. The relief and thorough joy of being with him was simply bliss.

Sora introduced me to the Donald and Goofy properly. A Mage and a Knight to fight by Sora’s side on a quest to find a mouse called King Mickey, the ruler of their kingdom. They had been travelling the worlds together and defeating the Heartless which appeared wherever they went. 

Of course the Heartless would attack Sora unremittingly. He had such a pure heart. To take that would be such a treat for the creatures of Darkness. Maleficent had begun to teach me about them, but the true research belonged to a man named Ansem, she had said. A name that I felt I knew, even though I was positive I had never heard it before in my life. All I knew for sure was that Sora was never going to escape the Heartless for as long as they continued to multiply.

I was shaken from my thoughts by Sora’s hand firmly around my arm. The touch did not make me glaze over with my military persona like with the evil witch; instead it allowed me to bask in its soft warmth and smile.

“What should we do now?” Goofy asked. He seemed like a slow and stupid character to me as he spoke, but his shield held against his arm told me that in battle, he was not.  
Donald and Sora both shrugged their shoulders at the same time and turned to me for guidance.

“Is anyone hungry? I left my breakfast half-finished in First District,” I suggested. 

Sora was immediately beaming at the thought of food. His hasty nod of agreement was a clear indication of this. The duck and the dog agreed too, so we set off at a much slower pace back to the café. Heartless continued to appear on the way back, but not nearly as many as before. I watched Sora as he fought bravely against them. His Keyblade sliced through the air with a streak of residual force following momentarily. His knuckles were white as he gripped it tightly and the release of pressure he emitted through shouts pulsed through me in a wave of pride. I had been the one to teach him like that and he had kept on board all the advice I had ever given him. His own flare shone through in his style. All of it made it engrossing for me to simply watch him move…

My friend turned to me. I was about to praise him but his expression was not expectant, rather it was questioning. He didn’t press his query, though. Instead he carried on walking towards the door of the First District.

Inside the café, the mother and daughter from before were seated in the corner and eating calmly until she caught sight of Sora, at which point she rose to her feet and pointed. A round of applause thundered in the room as everybody clapped and cheered for the smaller teen. Such an atmosphere lifted my heart and compelled me to join in. Very soon, I felt a smile on my face and my hands stung with each clap. The rosy blush which scorched Sora’s cheeks at the kind attention was nothing short of adorable.

We ate while Sora and the animals told me about their travels. It was amazing to listen to. Having been isolated to Destiny Islands for the vast majority of my life with no knowledge of any other worlds, to hear about the mysterious, gravity defying room and army of playing cards in Wonderland and dangerous tournaments and massive three-headed dogs of legends at Olympus Coliseum was wonderfully thrilling. I was completely fixated on the story to the extent that my lack of blinking apparently spooked Donald, to which I shook my head and laughed. 

“What have you been up to, Riku?”

My laugh was cut short in my throat. I turned to Sora who was looking at me with his perfectly innocent blue eyes. He had no idea, and I felt a knot twist deep in my stomach at the prospect of telling him. It could ruin him, knowing I’d been taken in by the darker forces. He might think badly of me. He might leave me… 

His hands lay one on top of the other on the table as his eyes encouraged me. Resentfully, I forced a small, fake smile. “I’ve been here and there,” I lied, brushing it off. “Keeping myself busy, you know? Looking for you.”

He fell for it, the trusting and loyal pup that he was. I turned my face away from him and vowed to tell him something closer to the truth later. Perhaps when we were in private. 

By the time Sora had finished his plate of stacked pancakes and syrup, it had gone midday. The animals decided to go to the Item Shop which was run by three ducklings. Whenever I went in there they had been either annoyingly cocky or frightened of me. Nevertheless, I would not part from Sora again for as long as I possibly could.

We let Goofy and Donald lollop ahead so that Sora and I could speak more quietly among ourselves. I had my mouth open to start conversation but he beat me to it.

“Why didn’t the Heartless attack you back there, Riku?”

The question came as a surprise to me. I hastily tried to push myself into the mindset of lying but I messed up big time under his questioning gaze. My expression faltered for a while and I was stuck with my mouth open and my brain searching for words. But Sora wasn’t having any of it.

“C’mon Riku, don’t make things up!” he said playfully, but his face showed distant signs of worry. I suppose he thought, what could be so wrong if I couldn’t tell him the truth straight away?

I shut my mouth and looked ahead as I searched for what to say. My heart was ordering me to tell him the truth immediately, but my brain advised me to twist it. Slowly, I said, “During my travels, I met someone who was able to protect me from the Heartless.”

“Really? That’s awesome!” Sora announced, a grin on his face. “So you’ve got nothing to worry about!”

My heart pulled in my chest as his smile immediately won me over. I didn’t reply with anything but a curt nod. Of course he would be happy for me. It warmed me to know that his trust for me hadn’t faltered during our time apart. He linked arms with me as the animals entered the shops ahead and the sensation went straight through me. All my nerves piqued with the contact. I barely had time to register how abnormally strong my reaction was before a curtain of darkness veiled my mind.

I lost myself. Almost completely. My eyes had widened with a gasp, then narrowed in a growl. That anger was back, sparked by my emotion, and was grasping my soul in its fist. The next thing I knew, Sora’s wrists were in my steel grip and I had pinned him with force against the stone wall of the shop.

His entire expression was one of shock. He gasped out my name but the anger forced my body against his. My eyes were practically covered by my fringe. The distorted vision made me growl through a smirk. The power I felt was immense. The power was addictive. I was being dragged under this curse again. 

“I missed you so much, Sora,” were the words that came out of my mouth. He was struggling weakly. I could barely feel it. My face was inches from his in aggression. He was trying to form words but they died on his open lips. 

“I’m going to keep you forever.”

Sora’s face flushed, but he winced as well. “Riku, you’re hurting me!”

Immediately, the force obscuring my senses lifted. I released my friend at once, stepping a few paces back. My hands shook as I looked at them. What did I just do? Why did I just do that? I looked back at the cowering boy to find he was thumbing red nail marks on his wrist and breathing shallowly. 

“Damn… Sora, I… I’m so sorry. I don’t know what…” I stammered. My words failed me and my mind was a tornado of confusion and a heavy wave of fear and self-loathing crashed over me. I’d just hurt my best friend after all this time trying to protect him from danger. I had hurt him. And I hadn’t wanted to stop myself; I had been completely helpless against the imposing power. I wanted to run away and maybe cry, but I also wanted to apologise properly. I could do neither. I was rooted to the spot.

Sora’s wide eyes were welling up; the bright blue a contrast to the pink of his cheeks. He opened his mouth to talk. No words came out. Instead, he turned his back to me and disappeared through the shop door.

I wanted to tell him to wait. I wanted to redeem myself. But all I could manage was an outstretched arm, a stifled gasp, and the recognition of heat in my own cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written four years prior to its revival. Chapter 2 was written two years prior. Chapter 3 is where the better writing really kicks in so look forward to it!


	2. Fleeting

# Chapter 2: Fleeting

I stood rooted to the spot for some time, attempting to calm my breathing and get my mind back in check again. In that time I set my expression to its now-default, sombre tone and soothed the panic which had risen within me. These outbursts were frightening now. I would never do something like that to Sora; what could have pushed me to do such a thing with no control over my own body? I mused over this. As far as I knew, Maleficent hadn’t put a spell on me. As long as I seemed willing and subservient to her and her teachings, nothing had seemed to be of this sort of threat to me. So just what was it…?

I had no answers, but it made me very wary of myself. I had to keep myself under control. I could not let this come between myself and Sora after being separated for so long. With a deep breath and a straightened back to boost my confidence, I also made my way through the heavy shop door.

Inside, the brunette boy was smiling again, beaming at Goofy as Donald spoke to the young ducks. I heard them call him 'Uncle Donald' in their annoying voices. So they were family, hm? With a set jaw, I hoped that this Mage wouldn’t be as irritating as his nephews. Not wanting to approach my friend too quickly, I decided to brace myself and speak to the ducks instead. The young ones looked frightened to see me approach, which I tried not to show my signs of cruel satisfaction at.

“So, Donald. Did you manage to buy what you were looking for?” I asked the older white duck calmly. I noticed Sora’s head whip round at the signs of my voice, uncertainty playing on his face.

“Yikes! I forgot to buy it!” exclaimed Donald loudly. Well, he was certainly full of character.

After a short while, we were departing the shop and wandering off. The Mage and the Knight both crowded around Sora, leaving me to walk alone behind them which allowed my mind to veer off onto a path of doubt. How much had that uncharacteristic advance shocked Sora? How much damage would it do it my plans of keeping him protected from the growing Darkness around us? My fingers ran along the hilt of my weapon and my eyes lowered to the floor as I contemplated this. Perhaps I was over-thinking; perhaps Sora was still as light-hearted as he used to be and would brush it all off with a vague explanation. He didn’t turn around to face me once during the short walk… Sora wasn’t one to hold a grudge. He must have just been shocked and trying to figure it out. Yeah.

The three stopped to talk to a man with a stoic face chewing on a long toothpick Having no business with him, I stood to the side and waited in silence, crossing my arms as I leant against a wall. Goofy must have noticed me looking troubled since he left the other two and made his way over.

“Gawrsh, you seem awfully down, Riku. Is everything alright?” he asked with concern in his slow, dopey voice. It was quite amusing to listen to, but his kind-hearted care was appreciated.

“I’m fine, thank you,” I replied, briefly meeting his eyes for a polite smile. “Only worried to lose my friend again after searching for him for so long.”

The dog gave a strange sort of laugh and slapped me on the back with more force than I was expecting, sending me forward a step. “There’s no need to feel down about that, silly! I’m sure it will be easy to persuade Sora to hang around for a while. He’s missed you an awful lot!” 

It took me a while, but once Goofy’s words had sunk in, I relaxed into a small smile. That really was comforting… I knew he was right. Sora wouldn’t leave just because of that. I looked over to the brunet who was talking to the blond about what seemed to be space ships. Sora had his cute look of confusion stuck on his face as his elder was obviously covering concepts that he couldn’t understand. His brow furrowed, his lips pressed together in a tight line and his head tilted to the side… I had to chuckle and look away to stop myself from staring. 

Eventually, their conversation came to an end and the suggestion to go back to my room in the hotel cropped up from somebody. Sora nodded, agreeing to book into the hotel for the night at least, assuming that he could keep the Heartless away. I could tell he was trying to banish my doubts on the walk back with the way he smiled openly and pointedly making light eye contact, but the only thing I could do well right now was worry. Worry about the Heartless trying to consume his purity. Worry about my control over myself. Which led me to the underlying confusion of _what the hell was happening_?

Even the Hotel seemed to be attracting Heartless now, but it didn't take too long for them to finish them off. It was too cramped for me to help out. Besides, I wasn't sure whether I would help or hinder their attempts to vanquish them. With this dark power cast over me, how was I to know that I wouldn't make them stronger? I did not want that around my friend. Thankfully they were only grunts which didn't reappear after the first wave was wiped out, leaving my grand hotel room peaceful. 

"So, Riku?" Donald piped up, leaning on his staff. "Have you got any clues about how to find Kairi?" He stared at me expectantly, but I shook my head. 

"No idea." I didn't know where she was. As far as I knew, Maleficent hadn't told me anything about her. All she had tried to do was to tear me away from my old life with generic persuasion of doubt, guilt, worry. Negativity. I knew that I was weak to negativity which was the complete opposite of Sora. He always used to smile during any hardships back on the island. When I was starting to give up on building our raft during our night time walks on the beach, he would smile at me and point out over the ocean and go off on excited tales about what could lie beyond. He really was a light in my life.

It was after a while of educating myself about this King Mickey from the animals that Sora started to tell me more about the strange happenings he had encountered. A girl named Alice was being tried in a court led by a stubborn, short-tempered Queen and had been kidnapped from inside a locked cage, and Heartless had swarmed the quirky world. Different Heartless to the ones in Traverse Town, and there were stories of even stranger Heartless elsewhere. I knew that the Heartless were becoming plentiful and varied, but to know that Sora had to face them with no knowledge of the devastation they were capable of delivering... That was worrying. 

He told me stories of a jungle where he had met scientists investigating the creatures on that world but had been disrupted by Heartless. He told me that the Heartless there were suddenly much stronger and faster than others he had encountered. And it wasn't just the Heartless he had to protect himself against. Animals had attacked him and a man with a gun was acting extremely shady. Brilliant. As if I wasn't already worried enough. Still, he found it in himself to smile and laugh with tales of sliding down mossy tree pathways and finding a huge, beautiful waterfall in that place. "When the Heartless finally go away, I'd love to take you there sometime, Riku!"

That coaxed a smile onto my face. "I'd like that, yeah."

Soon the animals set off to visit some Dalmatians, they said, leaving Sora and I alone in the room together. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea... Nevertheless, I could revel in the warmth of his presence without having to guard myself too much against strangers. All strangers were potential threats to me now. 

"Could you take me to the person who stopped the Heartless from attacking you?" Sora suddenly asked, his legs crossed on the bed and his hands in his lap, rocking a little in his childish energy. "You could spread their magic and then we could get rid of the Heartless entirely!" 

I barely even registered my gaze dropping away from his. I couldn't tell him... I didn't want to lie to him but something was telling me that it would be a terrible idea to tell him. I didn't know the extent of Maleficent's power. She could have been listening in right now with a magical bug. That thought made my eyes dart to the window, half expecting to see piercing yellow eyes staring at me but being startled at my own reflection. 

"No, I can't do that..." I replied with a calculated voice. "I don't think they're powerful enough to help everyone. Besides, I probably won't ever see them again." It hurt to lie to him, but I had to protect him. 

"Oh, okay then... Where did you meet this person anyway? Who was it?"

Damn. It had slipped my mind that Sora was genuinely interested in nearly everything I had to say. Kairi called it nosy. I thought it was sweet, actually. But under these circumstances it just made everything harder.

"It was in a sort of castle," I replied, weighing up what I could and couldn't tell him. "It was a dark place. I don't know how I got there." At least that much was true. "But I can't tell you much more."

"Aww... Why not? Don't you trust me?"

Ouch. "Of course I trust you!" My pitch had been a little higher than I would have liked, eye contact retained. "I've been told to keep it a secret. This person... Wasn't very nice, let's put it that way."

He stuck out his tongue before grinning and taking my hand, showing that he meant no harm and making another optimistic comment about it being awesome that I had superpowers. If only he knew the frightening truth... 

The worry slipped away when his fingers simply readjusted around my hand instead of pulling away. Warmth crept up through me from the point of contact, drawing a smile on my face too. He treated me so differently from Maleficent and everyone in the castle. Our bond was so strong even after our time apart that merely being alone with him was enough to drag me towards the powerful happiness I had felt back home. Back where no one told me it was wrong to be close to the ones I loved. Back where we all six of us had a great time. Sora, Kairi, Wakka, Tidus, Selphie and myself.

"Hey. Remember the time when Wakka got his ball stuck in the tree above the treehouse?"

"And we climbed up there to get it for him, yeah!" Sora replied, his joyful expression unchanging and his hands unmoving. 

"More like raced up there to get it. I beat you so bad!"  
"No way! I definitely beat you. I remember grabbing the ball from the branches!"  
"That's because I passed it down to you, moron."

It really was fun to talk about our childhood again. Fun... Something I hadn't had since our sword fight back before the storm when I was whisked away. Remembering all the times Sora and I had spent together and recalling the feelings of everything being right with the world. Nothing could stop us while we were together. Putting us together - although we were very competitive and did like to tease each other - was perfection. 

This thought rolled over in my mind as I listened to his happy voice. I had spent more time with him on the Islands than with anyone else. More than my family. More than anyone at school. Nobody had ever made me feel as strongly as Sora did. No one else could fill me with such passion. Perhaps this time apart had made me suddenly realise this and value it so much more. Maybe that was why I wasn't so worried about Kairi. Sora was my favourite person.

"Am I your favourite person?" 

The question slipped out of my mouth without me even thinking about it, and immediately I knew it was a mistake, taking my hands away from his and trying to push the question away. Sora looked at me a little strangely for a second with his mouth open from being interrupted. Crap. _Crap._ I had blown it.

"Yeah, you are." The smile on his lips had softened and his eyes showed his innocent compassion. "Of course you are, Riku! You taught me everything I know and you're the one who makes me so happy all the time. Without you, I wouldn't even be here right now!"

Wow... Relief flooded through me, bringing with it warmth, safety, sentiment. I never used to need reassuring, and I wasn't even expecting to get so much out of him with that mistake of a question. Yet, as always, every word that came from his mouth was perfect and moved me enough to make my heart thud and my fingers quiver and-

Wait, what? 

The sudden change in emotion caused that thick veil to cloud me again, spurring huge panic and alert. "Excuse me," I practically panted, stumbling my way into the bathroom and slamming the door behind me.

Control ebbed from my body. My fingers closed so tightly around the sink that they turned white. I stared into the mirror with wide, maddened eyes, expecting them to be red. That would have been better than what I did see: my own sea-green pair glaring right back at me with the only difference being constricted pupils. My body was shaking. My jaw was clenched so tightly that I swear my teeth could have cracked. Breaths were coming in harsh pants; the corners of my mouth were twitching. I could feel myself there but... It was like something was pushing my consciousness aside. Something dark and terrible was invading me and using my body as its vessel while I was still inside. All the confusion I had about the 'what' and the 'why' did not even slightly amount to the fear I felt for the 'how'.

"Riku?" Sora's voice called through the door, clearly concerned. "Are you okay? What's happening?"

I couldn't answer. I watched as a sly, twisted grin spread over my face. My own expression in the mirror but I wasn't the one producing it! It was nothing short of haunting. Unnatural. Then I was whisking round and slamming my fists down against the door, forehead against the wood and my breath seething through my teeth before it all faded just as quickly as it started and I was in control again.

Before anything else I flung the door open to see Sora on the ground having fallen back in shock, and my palms were faced towards him, sweat on the back of my neck already. I could feel it. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm okay, I promise." 

He wasn't convinced this time, straightening up but clearly on guard, keeping enough distance in case I were to lash out again. I could have been thankful that I managed to stop myself from hurting him this time. Instead, he could see the nervousness in my eyes. 

All that warmth from just moments ago had frozen solid. All the negativity and tension was so heavy on my shoulders that I had to grasp for my steely persona to keep myself grounded. Just two months I had been under Maleficent's control. If this is what she could do to me even when I was consciously aware that I did not believe her or her teachings, what would be next?

"Riku...?" he tried again, nervously putting his hands on my shoulders. "What is going on?"


	3. Realisation

# Chapter 3: Realisation

I backed away. Shrugged out of his concerned hands and took a couple of slow steps back. "I, uh," I started weakly, trying to avoid his gaze but that bright blue kept trying to pull me in. Sora had a great skill for widening his eyes and attracting attention through them like two little black holes. "I don't know." It was honest, and it was afraid. I think he knew it was afraid. _I_ was afraid. 

And then his expression was afraid as my foot sank into something slightly less solid than ground. A quick glance at the sudden dark drawing in from behind was all I had time for. His arm shot out; my arm shot out for his. "Riku!" he called in panic as my heart rate shot up and my body was pulled away. Into the blackness of the portal sucking me in and away from the one trying to catch me and pull me back until the darkness closed up and Sora was gone.

I was gone. Soaring through the dark yet staying quite still as the teleport drew me to some far-off place. It lasted only a second but that was enough time for me to panic, realise I was panicking, remember who I worked for, shed the expression of fear for one of practised, military sombre, straighten up and prepare myself for exit. 

She had dragged me to the entrance hall of Hollow Bastion, waiting for me with that ever-stern expression pressing thin lips into a tight line and glaring at me with eyes so disapproving and superior they made me want to prove her wrong. My acted confidence was unwavering as I stepped from the portal, walking as boldly as I dared to stand in front of her, looking up. Emotions wiped. Weakness left behind. And by 'behind', I mean crammed into a cage and while it wanted desperately to show itself I couldn't let it for fear of the worst consequences.

Both hands were laid over the top of her staff, seemingly resting though I knew that this witch never truly rested. She was always alert. Always plotting and ready for action; always so sure and in control of herself. A quality that, under different circumstances, I would have looked up to greatly. That was what I wanted to be: strong, confident, powerful. Traits that Maleficent exhibited flawlessly, along with that inexcusable wickedness.

"Riku," she greeted, any warmth in her voice created in acted coincidence. Her gaze was piercing and I matched it with my shields up as high as I could raise them. "Do you have any news you wish to report to me about the Keybearer?"

Her question was pointed. She dragged me back here for a reason. She knew. She _knew_. I put that cage inside another cage so that the growing dread and worry could not be seen on my face. 

"No. I saw nothing out of the ordinary," I told her, in time. Straight face. Hands half way between being allowed to rest and clenching into fists. Those yellow eyes were trying to break me down. Her pressed lips tightened. 

"Is that so? And the Heartless were...?"

"Fine. Multiplying. Getting stronger, just as planned." My lips remained open as I took a breath to continue but my words ran thin. I had nothing to flesh out that lie with. I closed my mouth as her head tilted forwards, just fractionally, before straightening up to her full height. Maybe a little more with magic to make her seem bigger.

"I know that you found the Keyblade master," she announced, her voice reaching the walls of this round room and bouncing back to hit me twice. They struck the lock over that cage and rattled the bars, stirring up that feeling inside. If my eyes did widen at her knowing the truth then I corrected them before they could give me away. She, however, pressed further.

"May I remind you that the Keyblade should be _yours_. That boy is lying to you; changing your energy and getting into your head to uncover your secrets. The secrets of your power; the power you hold that far exceeds his." 

She paused. Perhaps that was supposed to invoke some feelings of pride in me. I wasn't getting that at all. Was my power really stronger than Sora's if I couldn't even control my own body? He, the innocent boy, had been travelling through worlds and carving his path through the impending Darkness while I had immunity bestowed upon me. I had protection, to an extent. I definitely wasn't showing as much power as that boy. Perhaps she was wrong. She continued nevertheless.

"The power, Riku, with which _you_ can open the door. I can feel it in you, as the rightful wielder of the Keyblade. You have a power within you that may grow so strong that it would seem to take over you. But know that this power is _yours_ , and that power will be your greatest asset." 

I think I faltered. Just a bit. Those terrifying occurrences were all mine? That was the power that I could learn to control? For a second, I was shocked. Confused. For another, maybe I was even hopeful. But maybe she was lying. Those times felt wrong. They felt dark and that wasn't me. I wasn't dark. Not _that_ dark, surely.

I stayed quiet. Looking at her, unwilling to back down from that piercing gaze. I watched her blink slowly, demonstrating how unfazed she was by my defiance, so to speak. "Come," she called, walking past me and out the front doors. The way she moved was so fluid it was like her feet hardly touched the floor. Contrarily, I definitely felt every step as I had no choice but to follow her. The solid stone floor was hard beneath my shoes, the vibrations spreading through my soles to remind me that I was very much human and very much targetable.

She waited for me on a called platform, patient yet impatient as ever. Standing next to her was more daunting than facing her; she was so much taller than me. So much more of a presence that did not want to be messed with. I should have been reluctant, probably, since I did not know where this platform would take us, but Maleficent's decision was law.

The platform carried us down to the Waterway. Potentially the sewers, though the icy cold water I jumped down into was clear and clean. There were large, sturdy metal gates creating a labyrinth through the passageway but I needn't head up to them to see the Heartless swarming. Large Heartless, patrolling and acting in dominance. Large Bodies, Defenders... I knew their given names; I had been told to study them. Even the seemingly harmless Green Requiems were born of the Darkness, making its peers more formidable.

Wyverns called from above. Defenders roared and squared each other up with their huge sentient shields growling. The Heartless didn't fight amongst themselves but the size and strength of them set me on edge. They looked at me - right into my eyes, as if they could see through them to my heart - but turned away upon seeing who floated beside me. She had to be floating; she wouldn't get her feet wet like this. 

"What do you think?" she asked me, setting a hand down on my shoulder. I refused to shudder.

"They're getting stronger. Every day, they get stronger," I told her, mirroring words I had heard before. Read before in Ansem's work. I could probably face some of them with the training I had been given thus far, but all of them together would realistically be too much. I needed to be stronger. It would take a skilled, battle-ready fighter to take on these creatures.

"That is correct. It seems as if you are learning to read their energy." I could feel her smirk without even looking in the way her long fingers tightened on my shoulder. "I'm sure that the Keyblade master will have a thrilling fight with the hoard of these Heartless I have just sent to him."

"What?" I snapped, turning round to her and throwing her arm off. There went the cage as the panic broke free. It showed; I was scared. Angry. Sora couldn't fight those beasts! "Call them off!" 

My weapon was in my hand in a flash, poised and eager before I came to my senses and hesitated. And then it was flying across the walkway as she swatted it out of my hands, vanishing into storage.

She grabbed a fistful of my hair hard enough to rip some out of my scalp and lifted me off the ground. I tried to struggle and prise her hand away with frantic fingers and grunts of pain but she wouldn't budge. An immovable force yet so light as she 'ported us elsewhere in the castle.

I was thrown out the portal and stumbled into a cold stone wall, the sound of old metal creaking and slamming behind me. I turned to see her lock the door of a cell, expression unchanged. Still disapproving and superior and I could have snarled at her. I could have run at the bars, reached through and punched her square in the face but that would have done far more harm than good. She was a witch, after all. I didn't know the extent of the power she possessed. 

"Use this time to think about why I have brought you here, boy. You have such great potential. You could be the best Keyblade master this universe has ever seen, yet you're denying yourself what you need to be successful. Let the Darkness out, Riku. Let it embrace your heart. Only then will you be able to fulfil your role."

With that she left me alone in that cell, the only light filtering in from a small window on the opposite side of the room, cold and dim. These cells were bare: stone walls and floors damp to the touch; no beds, no facilities. Shackles and chains in some of them but none in mine. I was down here alone. Trapped. And that was the paradise that my troubled thoughts needed to consume me.

Why hadn't I snapped into that state when Maleficent was around? I could have used that strength to have more of a chance against her. But then what would I have done? Could I have done anything to stop her sending the Heartless off to Sora? How had she known where he was anyway? Perhaps there was a bug! Perhaps... Perhaps I was the bug? I sank down to the floor and sat against the wall, hearing water drip from the ceiling somewhere in this big, empty prison.

This was all my fault. I shouldn't have stayed around Sora for so long. I shouldn't have let my emotions control me like that. Now I had put him in danger. And his friends, and the rest of Traverse Town; they were all in danger because of my stupid, selfish actions. My fists clenched against the floor and my jaw followed in their footsteps. Stupid. Idiot. What sort of a friend was I?

If there's one thing I didn't need it was time alone with my thoughts. They made me so angry. Restless. It was all my fault and now I wasn't there to protect him. I couldn't use the portals yet; I couldn't read the Darkness; I didn't have the apparent omniscience that Maleficent possessed. Sora was probably in trouble. What if he was hurt? What if the Heartless overpowered him and took his heart? All these what-ifs were plausible and they made my head spin and my eye twitch and my mind slip away.

The force was back, pulling me to my feet and clamping my hands down around the bars of the cell door. I shook it with such vigour that the clanging metal reverberated and drops of water rained down over me from their resting spots above. I didn't shout; there was no resentment at being in a cage in this force. There was just strength dying to be released. Power built up enough that I could have punched through the wall.

I tried. I couldn't punch through the wall. 

I regained control and the pain that came with it, stumbling back and cradling my injured hand, spiteful tears threatening to spill as the pain, anger and helplessness dragged me under its surface. The skin of my knuckles was abraded to leave spots of tender red flesh exposed. Dejected and disheartened, I rested my hand against the cold metal bars again to soothe it.

Time eventually managed to blur and escape me. I spent my time pacing, fretting, blaming myself. Wondering what I could do. Fighting away that force and trying to figure it out with no success. At some point it might have formed a voice and whispered to me. 'You can stop this,' it might have said. 'You can open the door.' What door?! What was this door that Maleficent was so hung up on? Surely if I had so much power then I could just, I don't know, break the door down? What was wrong with Sora opening the door, anyway? Why did it have to be me? 

Sure, I was stronger than Sora. I was faster than Sora. But there's no way that I could really, truly be better than Sora. I had advantages, sure. Many. I was even taller than Sora; older than Sora. But Sora has his own qualities. He had his optimism. His pride. His drive. His heart. His heart... Of course, they were all after his heart. Such a bright, pure heart... Maybe these assets would be his downfall in the end and I was the one who was leading them to him.

The light from outside faded and the prison was eventually plunged into a darkness of its own. By this point my stomach was past rumbling; I was cold, tired, hungry and upset. Alone. Was it really only today that I had held my friend in my arms and laughed with him? 

Why did it have to be Sora? What made Sora so special, anyway?

That was a good question which brought with it some fond memories. When we were building the raft he made such a fool of himself sometimes. Challenging me to a race which he didn't win and demanding a rematch until he did. Looking to fill up drinking water from the sea before he remembered that that would probably kill us, fixing his mistake and coming back to us with that contagious grin. And before that, when we would spend evenings over at each other's houses even into our teens. We would lie on his bed, look up at his model hanging from the ceiling and talk about being captains of ships, sailing away to far-off lands. We would sneak out the house in the middle of the night to go to the beach or sit on the edge of the pier and talk. I remembered how he would lean on my shoulder when the three o'clock sleepiness hit him and how I'd have an arm over his shoulder to keep him stable. Keep him close. Like I loved him.

Love?

I pulled my mind out of its nostalgia trip, stunned. No, I didn't love Sora. I mean, yes I loved him; he was my best friend, just as I loved Kairi. I didn't _love_ Sora, that was absurd.

I sat up, having slumped down into a lying position sometime during the night. What was love? Now that... That was a question I hadn't thought of before. Love was what you felt for kind, caring family. Everyone knew that. Love was a word used on the playground in school when two people liked each other more than their other friends. As I grew up and changed schools, love became something that was flaunted and short-lived among my peers, using it as a status symbol to have a partner. 

Surely that wasn't a universal meaning for love.

So what was love to me? Love... Love must be wanting to spend all your time with someone and see all sides of them, finding interest and passion in all of them. Love must be wanting to give to this person, protect them, make them happy. Love must be treasuring that person and giving them better treatment than everyone else. Love must be cradling them as they slept and looking down at that gentle face as the sea breeze sweeps through their messy brown hair...

Oh.

Then surely I loved Kairi too? I found her interesting; I wanted to protect her and make her smile; I definitely treasured her. I even joked about sharing a Paopu with her! Sora looked so offended at that so I tossed it to him instead. He always did look cute when he was mad.

Ah, no. No that didn't help. That didn't prove my point...

I sighed. I rested my forehead against my palms. Every time I thought of how I felt about Kairi, Sora came shining through. Every time I thought about how much I cared about Sora and wanted him to be so wholeheartedly happy by my side, Kairi took a step back. Now I felt as if I were a bad friend to Kairi because I wasn't keeping her equal to Sora!  
But then I thought harder.

Kairi hugged me often. I would tend to laugh it off and shrug out of her grip.

Sora hugged me often. Less often, but still often. His hugs were a gift and I'd give them back in a way, holding my secret that I'd wish every hug was just a bit longer.

I blinked. Straightened my back. Realised.

I love Sora.

There was no rejecting it when I had so much time to think about things. It wasn't just the hunger talking. It wasn't the loneliness or the guilt or the pain. Sora came above Kairi. I loved Sora. I wanted to be around Sora. He was my driving force; he was my light. He was-

He was a boy. That thought hit me. More accurately, I hit it like riding a bike into a brick wall. I had to lie down now to think about it, the floor uncomfortable and cold beneath me but as I sank into my thoughts I tried to forget about it.

Sure, Sora was a boy. In school it has always been taught that it was a boy and a girl. That hadn't stopped some of the students when they became couples. Some people were against it and decided to call them out about it. Horribly. They were bullies. The people who were not bullies didn't kick up a fuss. And to the best of my knowledge, I was not a bully. Tough, yes. Perhaps intimidating. But not a bully. 

I had no problems with that. Did I have problems with Sora? Well... no. Did I have problems with myself liking Sora? 

Well...

No. 

I liked Sora. I loved Sora. I smiled.

In that cell, on the floor, I smiled and thought about my time with him as I drifted off to sleep.

***

_I stood on an invisible floor in a strange world, Heartless all around me. Coming for me. Heartless that I hadn't seen before but such powerful creatures. They exuded Darkness and disappeared into it, reappearing with a swing of a sword so strong that it should have sliced right through me. But their efforts faded in vain as I countered them with the Keyblade. They were strong but I was stronger, vanquishing my aggressors with stabs and slashes of the magical key. They were fast - so fast - but I could dodge. I could roll and flip; I could glide; I could tear through them with this blade._

_Then I was stepping over that unreal, unbalancing surface with perfect confidence, reaching such a bright light. Feeling that light push away the Darkness and push away my worries. Inside the light there was just me. Me holding the Keyblade. It felt perfect in my hands, moving seamlessly through the air and shooting out its beam of light to the keyhole of the strange world._

_I felt a sort of gratitude in that light. Acceptance. Power._

_Then I was in the Coliseum taking on waves and waves of Heartless by myself. I felt better than ever. Stronger than ever, faster than ever. I could stop them moving; I could shoot them out of the sky with fireballs roaring from the tip of the Keyblade. I was cheered on and marvelled at by Hercules and that little goat creature Phil from the sidelines. And I smiled. I was the Keyblade master, and I was the one who would open the door._

_And then there was Sora. Coming up to me in a dark place, his skin positively glowing and his smile uncharacteristically small and measured._

_"I knew you were the one," he told me, his voice ghosting through my ears."I knew I could count on you to protect me."_

_His face fell. And his face started bleeding. Where were those scratches coming from? Why was his eye black like he had been punched? Why was his lip split; why was he falling onto me?!_

_"But you didn't protect me, Riku." I was still. Haunted. He looked up at me, crying, but his voice was still so calm. "You didn't become the Keyblade master, Riku."_

_It was in his hand now, vanished from mine. His hands were battered. The wielding arm hanging limply. He was on his knees now and I stayed with him. Confused, panicking._

_"What do you mean? I did it, Sora! I saved us."_

_"No. You didn't. You didn't let your power out, Riku. You didn't take the Keyblade. You left me alone and made me fight. You set the Heartless on me. You hurt me, Riku. I couldn't do it. I couldn't win..."_

_No, no, no. This wasn't right!! This couldn't be right; I had held the Keyblade. I had beat the Darkness; I had realised my potential!_

_"You should have saved me," Sora said, and he wasn't there. He had gone. Slipped. Down, down into the Darkness and I reached down for him as his battered body faded away._

I woke with a start, sitting up fast and feeling the cold air send chills through the teardrops lingering on my bottom lashes. Maleficent stood there with the door open. Waiting. 

"You must be hungry. Come."

The dream lingered with me. I couldn't shake the image of an injured Sora from my mind's eye. It was staring at him. My fault... That would all be my fault if I didn't follow Maleficent. She knew how to make me stronger and she knew how to make the Keyblade reinstate itself to me as its rightful owner. None of this should have been on Sora's shoulders; this should be my burden. I stood up and levelled my expression, stretching my back and rolling my shoulders before stepping out of the cell and into the portal that she opened.

I ended up in the great dining room with the long table laden with food; far too much food for only two people. I sat; she sat across the table at let me help myself. My stomach betrayed my steely-faced defiance with a loud, violent rumble. Sighing, I piled the food onto my plate but her gaze left me in a constantly unsettled state as I finally began to eat.

"It is time I told you more about this procedure you are assisting us in," Maleficent told him, not having chosen anything for her own plate. Of course not. That would be too human. I admit, I was intrigued, though I didn't want to show that so plainly to her. I continued to eat.

"Ansem's research uncovered that to open the pathway to reach our final destination, we require seven princesses of pure heart. They shall be unharmed, of course," I was sceptical, "But I need them here, in this castle, where the gateway shall be opened.

"If you help me, along the way you will train and become stronger. As we draw near to our target, you will be able to feel the control over your power develop. It will change you; it will teach you so much more about the worlds around you. You must let it grow; you must stop stifling it for the sake of protecting your hindering feelings for others."

I stopped eating and glared her down. "You know nothing about my feelings," I spat at her. She saw my defensive hostility. Whether or not she figured by extension its newfound reasoning was beyond me.

"What you must realise, boy, is that you must focus on yourself. If you are held back by your fear of the Darkness or your fear for your so-called 'friends', then you will never become powerful. You will be surpassed, and I will not protect you as the Heartless grow ever stronger. Embrace the Darkness. Let it surround your heart. Ansem's research is the most enlightening work this universe has ever seen; with the power to control the Darkness, we can control everything."

Her silence that followed washed over the room deliberately. I merely scowled and picked out some more food. I chewed. She remained silent. I looked up at her. She raised an eyebrow, and I realised.

"Yes, that's right," she continued, softer and more slowly this time. "Don't you see? If you side with the Darkness, you will be able to protect what matters most to you. Even that little boy who is using your Keyblade. Embrace the Darkness, take the Keyblade, open the door and you will have the power to do anything."

I set down my cutlery, looking at her with a dash less disdain than I had earlier. If I could access my power, I could protect Sora? She seemed to think I had such great potential for it; if I were to become as strong as she thought I was destined to be, perhaps she was right. Though I'm sure she didn't want me to protect him. Protect myself, maybe. Protect her. Protect her plans. But I knew that she couldn't sway me. My friends were what I was fighting for.

She stood again and led me through the castle using the platforms. She took me to a room which seemed impossibly large, even for a building such as this. We stood on a balcony overlook an unlit hall, the floor too dark to even make out.

"You see, Riku," Maleficent began, her voice dripping with smugness. Wait, no, I could see the floor. It merely disappeared into darkness in a huge circle, and from that huge circle was-

What was that?

It grew. It climbed out and it grew and grew, a Heartless bigger than I had ever seen. It stood and unfurled itself and straightened to its greatest height, yellow eyes more shocking than the witch's glaring down through hair-like tendrils swaying around its head. I had heard of this. The Heartless that appeared back on Destiny Islands the night of the storm but I hadn't thought that it was this ineffably huge. Darkside.

"This is the true power of the Darkness." Her voice rang out boldly; the ceremonial gong marking the start of a grand event. My realisation, maybe, as it stared at me. It made no noise which only made it more frightening. Then it formed an orb in its hands which grew, grew, much larger than either of us standing on the balcony. The air around it sparked with its energy; the Darkness cascaded from it like heavy fog. The dark circle at its feet seemed to be moving, swirling like a disc of gas ready to suck its victims into the depths below.

Maleficent raised her staff and the Darkside safely disposed of that energy ball, returning to just look at us. "If we can control the Heartless, Riku, we can obtain whatever we desire. We can carve our path to discovery; let that Darkness give us the power we need. One day you, too, will be able to control them."

I hadn't dropped my eyes from him. Part of me couldn't - I was rooted to the spot - but part of me was sizing him up. I could control him. The Darkness was infinite; there must have been Heartless stronger than Darkside as well. I could control them...

"This is all about the ultimate power of the Darkness. You may use that power as you will. The ultimate power means the ultimate protection. All you have to do is obey my teachings and the Darkness will make you more powerful than you can imagine."

She was right. I hated to admit it but she was right. The beast before me slowly curled and compacted itself down, hiding away in the Darkness again and leaving me alone with Maleficent. I turned to her. She had taken me under her wing and was willing to teach me everything I could need to eventually turn against her and protect Sora against everything that this universe was sinking into. Perhaps if I could control the Darkness, I could also make it leave, or invert its direction. 

I would be a fool to refuse.

"Okay. Tell me what you want me to do."


	4. Breakthrough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Riku gets tortured.

# Chapter 4: Breakthrough

Maleficent's training regime was, to put it simply, brutal. Part of me thought that she didn't understand the limitations of a 15-year-old boy's body while another part of my thought that she did, merely she didn't care. Every morning she expected me to wake at dawn and train before eating. After breakfast I would be training again until lunch. From then I was expected to be studying Ansem's work in the library and learning as much about the Darkness and theorising on my findings in order to reach her levels of understanding. And in the evening - guess what - training again.

It was gruelling and rigorous but I had my motivation now. I had to become stronger and I had to be able to protect him. Them. Him... As the days past I noticed how my body was changing and how my fighting style developed. My physical strength grew as my mentality remained ever sombre. I was becoming a soldier, it seemed. Monitored at all times by that witch or her raven. As much as I could have made jokes about Diablo watching over me as I trained in Hell, it would have been presumptive to assume that my situation then was the worst.

Hollow Bastion may have been a large building with grounds outside but the longer I stayed there, the more frustrated I became. This journey all started because I wanted to escape the confinement of my islands. I wanted to travel and explore new worlds and be _free_. Now I was trapped again in a different environment with even less freedom than before, working for a woman I had no interest in succumbing to for reasons that she and I both knew did not coincide with her alignment. How much longer would it take for her to change things and drag me by the hair to join her side of this scheme?

The worst part of my days by far was when she tried to make me unleash my power. That unnameable phenomenon that I was trying so hard to avoid. It scared me; I didn't want it. It was dangerous. She had realised that I was most susceptible when undergoing emotional changes and was pursuing that in the easiest way she knew.

I was sat in a chair in the middle of the entrance hall, head hanging. 'Sat' was a nice way of putting it. 'Forced' was more accurate and 'shackled to the chair by the wrists' was more accurate still. Sweat rolled over my temples and down the sides of my face while I tried to recover before she hit be with another bolt of Thunder magic. The pain was extreme heat streaking through my body, commanding my head to tip back as I shouted my throat raw and willed that force back so that it could take the pain away, just for a little. She had advanced while my senses were blown out of my surveillance and gripped my hair tightly, slapping me around the face and yanking it back to look into my eyes. I was crying but I glared with all the energy I had left, still myself, so she shocked me again.

This training could last an hour, I think. Keeping track of time whilst being _tortured_ , not 'trained', was not the easiest thing to do. Some days I stayed in control the whole time as if that force was slyly watching me, snickering in its malicious ill-will and convincing me that it couldn't possibly be anything just or good or helpful. Some days it would come quite quickly (I can only tell since those days were tough to remember but Maleficent's face was somewhat less flat and more smug afterwards). Some days, like this one, it would only swoop down on me just as my will to hold on started slipping.

It came like a wave rushing me from head to toe, switching that searing heat for angry warmth and feeding me energy in excess. The pain dissipated quickly and my head stabilised itself, my eyes meeting hers and glaring with fury before a shout tore from me and my body thrashed and pulled with enraged fervour against the shackles. I came down in a snarl broken by desperate pants with my conscious control pushed aside, further back than I remember it going before.

"You'll kill the boy," I said, chest heaving with each deep breath and muscles restlessly flexing and relaxing. 

"He can withstand it. He is advancing at a decent pace," she replied, resting those hands back on her staff again with Diablo on her shoulder, watching us with those beady, black eyes. As if one pair wasn't intimidating enough.

"Break free," she continued. Ordered. My body was still in response but I grew cold. My consciousness - perhaps my soul? - felt cold. Nothing was happening; she was scrutinising my body and I couldn't understand why until wisps of deep blue and black flickered right at the corner of my vision. Very soon, however, they faded.

"He is still too disconnected," I told her. 

Oh, she was not happy at that. I could tell in the way her brows twitched and Diablo spread and flapped his wings in aggression. "He must be ready."

"He is not," I insisted, finally looking down at my hands so I could see what was going on, though it was becoming less clear as the seconds passed. Those colours were coming from the very tips of my fingers, slowly creeping towards my palms. They halted before they could reach my knuckles, then dispersed instantly. "He needs more exposure." 

I panicked then. More exposure to this? No, no thank you. No, that is not what I needed! I did whatever I could to get back and while that was nothing physical I can only describe it as pushing. Pushing against my own thoughts, my own body, my own brain. "Less of--"

It disappeared and I was back. My body was warm. Not cold. Hot, from the lightning. I hunched over and groaned, letting my hair fall in front of my face and willing the witch away from me with every shred of hope I had left. She was quiet for a while as I sat there, dejected in my gradual recovery, until she flicked a sharp nail with another and sent another bolt through me.

"That is enough for today," she told me, turning her back to me as she walked away and left me there, post-scream gasping tearing at whatever energy the lightning hadn't already destroyed. I still had my awareness screaming at me that something wasn't right which was currently manifesting in the form of a swarm of Shadows creeping up from the ground and steadily advancing. It was fine, I told myself. I was safe. They wouldn't hurt me, I thought, just as one leapt right towards me.

Alarm surged and I struggled as hard as I could, the solid metal of the shackles scraping against my wrists as I tossed and turned and tried to shake it off me. Its hands held onto my hair and those empty yellow eyes stared deep into mine despite my struggles. I kicked at the Shadows on the floor but they merely reformed and leapt at me. Landed on me. Covered me in a black swarming mass as I breathed faster and faster, my heart hammering and the fear of this Darkness building. It hurt. Their claws were sharp. I couldn't see the damage. I couldn't see anything! Just black. Black and blurry.

It was a long while of panic and struggle before the realisation that I wasn't actually in danger started to set in and some of the Shadows lost interest and shrunk away, vanishing back into the floor. The one that had remained steadfastly holding onto my hair still looked at me, then perked up its antennae to avert its gaze past my shoulder. It backed off soon after and only a few remained lingering by my feet. Still stuck in this chair I didn't know what was happening until suddenly I was on my side and my head had crashed into the solid tiled floor.

That black and blurry was back in an instant followed this time with ringing in my ears and splitting pain from my head. I was dragged away from reality not by the force this time but by the injury. There was nothing there. There was no reason for my chair to have been shoved over. But then there was something strong, hard and sharp swiping across my head and my chest making me shout and writhe in pain again. Something definitely solid and very much not there. 

'Embrace the Darkness.' 

That voice was inside my head. Clear as day. Eyes opened wide and I felt a footstep near my head. That thing was close. Circling. I couldn't see it. 

'Feel the Darkness.'

I didn't know what it meant. I couldn't feel anything! It hit me again - it raked what felt like claws all down my side. They were small claws. It couldn't have been a big creature... 

'Sense the Darkness.'

"Stop talking about Darkness!" I yelled out in fury. Darkness this, Darkness that. Darkness wasn't helping me; Darkness was hurting me! All of this was hurting me; I couldn't deal with much more of this! I was strong. Stronger than I had ever been before, but this was far too much. Darkness wasn't helping me. Darkness was the cause for all this and I hated it. I hated this! 

Deep blue and black erupted from my hands and I pulled them free from the shackles with ease, summoning my blade to my hand and lunging out toward my aggressor. It crashed like metal and fell back - I could sense it - and I stood up and kicked that damned chair far away from me. All heavy old wood and metal, it slid to crash against the wall to leave me alone and seething, Soul Eater in hand and senses as piqued as I could get them. Still exhausted, but feeling strong in my rage.

Rage. Dirty, fuming rage and that smoke. That Darkness. That's what it was; it had to be. It wasn't on me, now. Not visibly. But it guided me to the Heartless that was hiding from my eyes like a new instinct. Ardently, I attacked.

It crashed again as I hit it and it jumped. It was fast. More evasive than any Heartless I had encountered thus far. The invisibility didn't help but I could still feel it. I could feel its presence and its strength so I leapt at it again and again. That blue-black followed each violent slash of my weapon over and over until that Heartless finally dropped its cloaking to focus on staying in this fight.

Now that I could see it in all its dark, armoured, jester-like glory, I knew that I was fighting a Stealth Soldier. It shouldn't have been a hard fight but this was one resilient Soldier. One resilient and soon-to-be-expired Soldier. It took one more barrage of attacks to wipe it out, leaving me panting but poised, ready to handle the wave of Shadows that were reappearing by the moment. They were easy; they were gone in one hit per piece but they seemed to keep coming. One wave, two waves, three waves and-- no. That was it. Gone. Quiet.

I stood slowly, sweat dripping from my nose to my top lip and mixing with the blood that had appeared from somewhere. I couldn't tell where. I checked my body for damage but the Heartless hadn't left any visible evidence of scratches. My head was still spinning from my crash and my skin was blackened and sooty from the Thunder but... I was standing. Both feet firmly rooted on the ground with my weapon in my hand and definitely in control of myself. I looked up to the floor above expecting to see Maleficent standing there but I was alone. Completely. The water from the fountain had never looked so inviting.

After a quick wash down I took full liberty of this unsupervised time and headed out to the Rising Falls, sitting on an iceberg as far away from the castle as I could get. I registered that my face was steely and distant as it had been for the majority of my time here. Even back home my face had been intimidating while resting, but this was military. This was a barrier. This was who I was becoming. 

Even as I sighed, I couldn't drop the expression. What was I doing here? How did I get myself in such a situation? Why did I sign myself up and consent to this... torture? The icy blue waters could only summon the most distant of connections to my Islands. To the eyes of my friends. My friends... What were they doing? How were they? And Sora... was he managing to deal with the Heartless?

I looked at the water. I didn't want to think about that right now.

Most importantly was the undeniable fact that something had changed today. I had made a breakthrough. That, or something had broken through to me. I wasn't sure yet. With no recollection of how, I had managed to do something with the Darkness. It came from me. It guided me. It gave me strength when I should have been running on fumes. Every strike had been stronger; every jump had been higher. And that final combo attack to finish off that Stealth Soldier felt _good_. That power felt good. If that was the effect of a minimal shading of Darkness on my exhausted body, what could I achieve at full strength with more support?

I could be unstoppable.

I had escaped from solid shackles and kicked that chair which easily weighed more than me so hard that it had skidded across the room. I should have been passed out. Exhausted; empty. Fainted and concussed in that Entrance Hall but no. Here I was, sitting on some ice with my thoughts and my blade.

I looked at it. Even my blade seemed to change with the Darkness. Not physically; more so in its energy. It was well-balanced and strong on a regular day; the Darkness had seemed to enhance that and helped me treat it more easily as an extension to my body rather than a tool. It had sliced through the Shadows like an oar through the ocean. Like a hot knife through butter if you would be so clichéd. In a way that I certainly was now aspiring to recreate.

I headed back to my bedroom as the sun finally set. There was food left for me under a tray and there were fresh towels and soaps at my disposal. Thinking about the reason for their existence in my room was too daunting to bother myself with so I enjoyed them with little thought then climbed into bed, falling asleep sooner and more comfortably than I would have liked to admit.


	5. Guidance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Riku gets tortured, but less of a mention this time.

# Chapter 5: Guidance

For a few days, training continued as usual only without the witch trying to coax out the Darkness in the horrendous way she had beforehand. Instead I was free to wander the grounds and be with the Heartless. Attack them if I wished. Gradually I noticed that they began to take more of an interest in me without moving to attack. I climbed atop the metal gates in the Waterway to watch them gather and patrol in the shallow water below.

Creatures born of the Darkness, huh? Where was the Darkness that they were born of, I wondered. Was it an omnipresent, lingering entity flowing from being to being through the aether or was it a huge, concentrated mass like its own world? Either way, although it had come to me on that day in the Entrance Hall, it was evading me again now and Malecifent was not best pleased.

"Why don't you harness the Darkness while we train?" she asked me stiffly, towering beside me while my eyes swept over the lines of the book she had placed into my hands at the beginning of this Library session. 

I was quiet and lost focus on the words on the page. The silence was expectant and tense; the countless books in the room absorbed sound like a sponge did water and focused the eyes of the universe directly onto the back of my head like daggers. 

"I can't," I told her. That was the wrong thing to say. She drew a long breath in through her nose and straightened up beside me. Head high, shoulders back, presence extended. It was easy to tell without even needing to look. It came hand in hand with the sense of 'dig me a grave, won't you? I'll need it in a second.'

"Is that so?" Yes, that was so. Clearly. "Pity. You were making such progress."

My response never followed. I continued reading the text.

"Finish the book," she ordered before placing another stack of notes on the desk beside me. "And these. Afterwards, meet me in the Entrance Hall."

I froze stiffer than her upper lip. Behind this emotionless mask the fear came back. The worry, the doubt, the knowledge of the inevitable. I was too slow to put it in a cage this time. Too late to prevent the shallowing of my breaths once she was out of earshot. Seems like whatever rest I had been awarded was going to be stripped from me and I was to be tied to the post and whipped again. Figuratively or not.

The Darkness avoided me like the plague that evening along with that overcoming. That day and the next day and the day after that. Three hours of screaming and writhing and bearing the pain of her magic and her aggressions. She hurt me. So much.

I could never trust a mentor like that. I could never, ever trust her. I couldn't trust that any of this Darkness malarkey was anything more than a lie. A ploy to give me false hope. I couldn't get that power back during this torture and I couldn't get that presence back to save me and guide me. No refuge. Just abuse and _begging_ on my part for her to stop now. Stop. It was too much. 

She sighed after a particularly long spell of Thunder and just watched my hunched, shuddering, sobbing body. "I think you need a change of scenery," she told me, waving a hand to make those shackles release me, uncaring as I slumped to the floor. The cold floor... A distant respite for my seared skin. I hadn't heard her; my brain was too busy focusing on combating the agony. I hadn't notice her walk away and leave me, yet again, to fend for myself. Through heavy hopelessness and the worst despondence I had ever felt I hobbled back to my room, sat in the shower and cried. 

At dawn the next day I was outside and training without guidance. The run began at the front gates to take the platform to Rising Falls, jumping down the slippery floating icebergs to the farthest and climbing back up again. Then down under the castle to fight a wave of Heartless and make the circuit back up. Through the Entrance Hall, the Library, round another hall and ending in the dining room.

I ate by myself in silence. Ravenously. While she wasn't near I could devour plate after plate with a little less shame for acting like the animal she was treating me as. She only appeared as I was finishing up and washing myself down, opening a portal next to me.

Our gazes met - superiority on muted contempt - as I waited for an explanation and she waited for a question. Neither of us caved. Wordlessly, I trusted myself to the portal and braced for anything on the other side. Wherever she was sending me it was so that I could train in my own way. I must bring development with me upon my return; something she would deem ample evidence of a suitable use of my time. I stepped out into warm colours: blue skies, soft sand and a monumental entrance to the Olympus Coliseum standing boldly before me, blocked barely by a young man clad in dark clothes and a disproportionately large sword and a huge, blue... thing... with its head on fire.

The more human of the two of them was soon walking away, past me, towards the world's exit. He spared me a sideways glance, nothing more. The other had its head covered by its palm and was clearly either exasperated or disappointed. Or both. Soon enough it - he - freed himself from that turmoil to turn back to the stoic, disgruntled man, but caught sight of another young human man in the form of _me_ instead.

"You! You there! Come over here, would ya?"

Cautious and straight-faced, I approached. He was smiling in a way that would have been welcoming and encouraging if it weren't just a hint of creepy. "Who are you? I haven't seen you around these parts before. Here to become a champion?"

That was too many questions for one assault. Conversations with Maleficent were minimal and cryptic and since she had been my only company for the past - damn, how long had it even been? - this came as a surprise. 

"Riku," I replied firstly. Slowly and measured. "I don't know about champion but I'm here to train. Who are--"

"Training? Oh, good, good! You came to the right place, I can certainly help you with that, no problem!" He was far too chipper. It made a pleasant change but I didn't have it in me to smile. "Name's Hades, Lord of the Dead. Heard of me? I bet you have."

I didn't answer. He looked down at me with questioning eyes, probably offended, but shrugged it off and continued.

"Not much of a talker, huh? Tell ya what, Riku, I can make you a deal."

A deal with the Devil, huh? I nearly said that out loud. I think he caught wind of my lack of immediate willingness and put his hand on my shoulder, smiling at me as he bent down to be a little closer to my height.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Scary, right? The most powerful person you'll ever meet is offering to help you just like that!" I doubted he could prove that claim. "Okay how about this: I show you around, get you a little bit of rough-and-tumble with the Heartless and _then_ we can make a deal to get you even stronger. Huh? Sounds better, right?"

I could have flicked my hair out of my eyes and give him a sideways chuckle and a roll of my eyes for his behaviour. Could have. "Showing me around would be good, yes." 

His beam may have made some stars jealous as he led me indoors, down passageways and into the Coliseum itself. Assumedly not the main entrance since he guided me past dark rooms and cages with strange sounds and stranger smells, then out into the light of the arena.

"Let's see what you can do, kid," he said in support, slapping me on the back to send me off on my way up the stairs and to the main stage. Forcefields came up around me ('Great', I thought, 'So I'm an animal in a cage again?') and with them spawned the Heartless. They looked at me but didn't attack. Huh, fine. No competition. 

The first wave went down in seconds. Same with the second, third, fourth. The Heartless got gradually stronger but they were no match for me at this stage. I felt eyes on me as I worked up a sweat; they might have been obeying Maleficent's rule but I was certainly not taking it easy on them. Fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth. It was all me - me in my own power - and I was faring excellently. Not a scratch on me, not a hint of damage. Of course it helped that I knew the weak points of all the different types of Heartless that appeared and I knew the best way of handing each wave. The ninth was a bit more of a challenge but they were making very little effort to defend themselves. Perhaps they were confused as to why they didn't feel the urge to fight back against their impending doom. Maybe the Heartless never really died and just returned to the Darkness from whence they came to be reborn. I didn't know.

When the final creature had been slashed through the head and wiped from this world, Hades began to clap. Began to advance and the forcefields came down. "I'm impressed, kid, you sure know how to fight! Think you might have scrambled their brains a bit, though. How did you do that?"

The way he took me by my shoulders was not as gentle as I had hoped. His grip was as probing as his curious gaze searching out any indication of hidden abilities. I returned the gaze, measured and unwavering.

"I guess I'm just good," I lied. His brow furrowed.

"Yeah, I'd say. Okay, I think you need more of a challenge. I've got the perfect matchup for you. Come with me."

He didn't take me far; only to that dark entrance from where we had arrived. He whistled into it with two fingers in his mouth, loud enough for the sound to run down my spine like spiders on skates. The next sound wasn't like spiders, though. The next sound was more like being punched in the gut with a battering ram.

A roar, or a blend of roars rolled into one. The floor shuddered under its footsteps and a vague part of my mind was wondering rather worriedly how I had not managed to see a creature of such magnitude while I was walking through those corridors. 

"Atta boy, come on out!" Hades called from beside me. A long way beside me. He had somehow managed to get up in the stands and I was down here, exposed in the middle of the floor, looking at one massive, clawed paw and a canine snout pulled back in anger with fangs bared full force. Two canine snouts. _Three_ canine snouts. At least five-of-me's tall. At _least_. Sora wasn't kidding when he called it 'massive'.

It snarled down at me, three pairs of red eyes trained on the overwhelmed young man crouching with his weapon disguising his fear on the floor, half tempted to shout something that would have been non-Maleficent-approved banter in the direction of the blue man-thing in the middle of laughing joyously at him. "Meet Cerberus, Riku, he's my pet. Harmless, really. Well, until he hits you. Try not to be his--" He lowered his voice to count on his fingers, "His umpteenth thousand casualty, alright?"

'Perfect matchup' my arse.

The dog came for me with three massive bites so quick I could feel its hot breath against my face while rolling away. Repositioning may not have been its strong point but those feet could _move_ and those claws were _sharp_. The fact that it was attacking me told me that it was very much not a Heartless. Not a Heartless equated to an actual, real, life-threatening danger.

I leapt for a paw and struck it hard but it was all recoil, no damage. Only another bite to my immediate left and then one to my would-have-been immediate centre had I not dropped to the ground like a ragdoll to avoid it. Another roll and I ran away to get some distance between us and earning precious seconds while it located me and charged. Hades was still laughing.

As it came barrelling towards me I ran towards it and went down, skidding under its body as it slammed heads-first into the wall, barking like a thunderstorm projected straight into my brain. I straightened up and used its back legs as platforms to hoist myself up onto its back. Running my sword along its back seemed to do nothing. So, heads. Of course the most dangerous parts of it were its weak spots. Climbing its ever-moving necks was a perilous task, heart slamming in my chest and eyes going wide as a foot slipped between two and I almost tumbled right into snapping jaws. The adrenaline rush of falling down the stairs just became ten times more intense.

My hands rammed the sword into one neck as leverage with which to support my body and pull it up. They then ripped the blade out and began to attack. Mercilessly. Balance became easier; attacks became faster. Adrenaline did that to you, for a while, and it occurred to me as those attacks continued and I was not feeling anything that that wasn't me anymore.

I jumped down right off the top of a head and I could have screamed. I would have. That was not a safe height! I landed on the floor in a roll with no pain. No sound. Just a smirk. Challenging and dark as I faced the dog with one whimpering head and two looking at it before snapping back to me. Sizing me up again. Reassessing. Then raising its two able heads to roar at the sky and rear up on its back legs.

Landing summoned a shock wave which rippled through my braced body like tempest wind over the ocean and a swelling of energy formed at my feet and pulsed up like a geyser, knocking the intrusion out of my mind and giving me all the pain of being knocked back to the floor. No time to groan, there was another one under me. Rolling away brought another one and hopping to my feet another. I ran. Right towards the heads which snapped at me and had me stumbling back to avoid them, into another pulse, back into jaws and this was too difficult. Difficult and _terrifying_.

I went around for its back again since turning on the spot wasn't its forte. I crouched to leap but its back foot slid and knocked me down, landing on me with the weight of the whole arena, probably. The scream alone couldn't describe the pressure and the desperation. My arm flailed and breath was choked in gasps. Eyes narrowed and summoning determination as the dog's paw pads clenched around me and Soul Eater drove towards its ankle in a rush of blue-black.

Cerberus howled at the weapon which buried itself smoothly deep into its flesh, the paw coming up as a reflex. I jumped for it, high, and tore it out before rushing up to its back for another onslaught on his heads. Hit after hit, combo after combo with that speed and strength and power being fed to me, Darkness spilling from my blade as my body twirled in a jump and showered cuts over its noses. The other outer head went down and the middle one bucked me off and sent me flying down that too-high drop which I landed in a roll and a smirk. Me, now. Empowered me.

I parried its next bite and attacked it again. Sidestepped the next one and hit it again. It reared up and summoned that dark energy, now raining energy balls as the Darkside in the castle may have done in battle. Dodging them was easy. Perhaps it would have been fun if I weren't near-blinded by the desire to end this fight. I saw the spot on its back that I wanted and a brief swell of Darkness behind me before I leapt for it again, blade raised aloft and ready for the final blow.

Cerberus ducked. I sailed over his head and was caught by a strong paw as it batted me out of the air, trapping my between its claws. Soul Eater flew out of my hand and Hades had reappeared on the battleground.

"Woah, boy, that's enough," he said to Cerberus with a voice raised loud enough to project, waving his arms and soothing the beast as its other heads woke themselves up, all three glaring back at me before taking two steps back, no more.

I refused the hand he held out to me and stood on my own accord, brushing the dust and sand from my clothes before glaring at him with a look cold as death. One that he must have been familiar with. The look he returned, however, was one of fascination.

"How did you do that?" he asked, the bafflement present in his voice clearly genuine.

"Do what?"

He blinked. Shook his head, cleared his throat. "I know how to help you, now. How'd ya like the sound of coming with old Hades to the Underworld?"

"Not very much, actually," I replied without skipping a beat. He had nearly killed me with his... pet. He didn't seem very apologetic about it, either. I think he noticed.

"Ah, come on, Riku! This Coliseum is all a game. Sure there are some deaths and it's unfortunate but you just go out there and have fun! You're still alive, after all, aren't ya?"

The glare continued. "Barely."

He frowned with his bottom lip out to mock me. I sighed.

"Do I have a choice?"

"I'm taking that as a yes. Come on, let's get that power of yours honed!" 

He brought me in close and opened a portal around us. Different to Maleficent's; from another source. I lost sight of the blue fire burning on the top of his head for just a moment as we travelled and ended up in a dark place swarming with dark creatures. I looked up at him with an eyebrow raised. His grin was notably more creepy than it had been before.

***

Surprisingly, Hell was more bearable than my reality on the surface and Hades was a far more amicable teacher than Maleficent. He laughed and joked as he put me through my paces and focused on different sorts of training. Standing by a gateway holding so much Darkness that I could practically feel the wisps of it licking at my ankles and wrists was one of them. In a way it was perturbing but it was also making me less afraid. Hour by hour, day by day - I wasn't actually sure how long I was there for; there was no day-night cycle in the Underworld - doing different Darkness related tasks, it got easier. He wasn't... of pure intentions. He did push me. He didn't, however, strap me to a chair and torture me to a hair's breadth away from insanity. That was a plus.

Soon I was standing before him, summoning the Darkness at my will to spread from my hands. Up my arms, to my elbows and from my feet to my knees; that was as far as I could go but I could do it faster and easier every time. It wasn't tiring to do, as it had been with Maleficent. Every time it took _away_ my tiredness. It made me noticeably stronger in battle though maintaining it for long periods of time was still beyond me. Hades, thankfully, seemed impressed. And set me against Cerberus again.

The fight went so much better and was stopped in half the time. The Darkness didn't come solely from desperation, pain and rage anymore. Similarly, neither did that force. It came and went far more fluidly. It encouraged me. Praised me. Told me how far I was coming and how powerful I could still become. It drove me on. Finally, some acceptance! Some support and the knowledge that I was doing it right. I was getting stronger; I was controlling the Darkness. I was ready to get back and face something more formidable. Get stronger and stronger still. 

"Hades, I want to leave."

The wine he had been drinking almost sprayed over my face as he rather comically spat it out. "You what?" he questioned as an exclamation. "You're doing so well, you can't leave yet!"

"I need to keep going. I have," Uh. I paused. Took a breath and tried again. "I have business to attend to."

"Oh yeah? Where?"

Silence. He rolled his eyes. "After all these months of me training you, this is how you treat me?"

"Months?"

No. No, it couldn't have been months. Surely it was only days. A week; two at most. Months... That was impossible. He had to be joking.

"Yeah. Time passes slower down here, kid. A couple of days down here could be a month or so up there. It's not like I care; they'll all be joining me eventually."

I stepped back and turned away so he couldn't see the horror on my face. Being trapped in Hollow Bastion for so long had been time enough apart from Sora but now... Add a few months onto that? No... No, no...

What if he... forgot about me?

"I need to go back," I insisted, spinning around and Soul Eater in my hand again. No idea where it came from. "Hollow Bastion. Please."

He pressed those long fingers together and raised an eyebrow at me as he had done countless times in his amusement. "Hollow Bastion, huh? Well what do you know, I have business there as well. Consider yourself lucky, kid."

As soon as the portal was opened I marched through without a thought of a glance behind me, stepping out of the dark into a hall I probably had no business being in judging by the round table surrounded by figures I did not recognise in the slightest. They all looked at down at me and the reality that I was in fact a 15-year-old boy dawned on me again as I reached for my emotionless mask.

"So, you finally return," Maleficent announced, that eternal belittling expression rife on her face, eating away at my patience like the Heartless devouring the light. I could have hit her if she didn't petrify me.

Hades conveniently stepped in between us as he made his way to the table, all self-entitled wit and grandiose. "Woah, woah, hold on a second. You know this little ball of Darkness?"

"Yes," she replied slowly, dragging out that syllable with royally inexcusable purpose. "He is our weapon. He is the one who will open the door."

They all looked at me and the urge to shrink away tugged at the reigns of my mind. Instead, I straightened up and held my blade and summoned the Darkness to surround me. Not a word, not a shift in expression, but a statement, strong and clear: I am Riku. I control the Darkness. And I, finally, am _not_ a force to be messed with.


End file.
